It''s encouraging to see recent trends in math instruction trying to move beyond the "Old Way" - that hallowed, relentless focus on the process of performing calculations without ever helping students see what the calculations *mean*. That''s a really interesting use of the Chinese Room example (it is well known as such to philosophers).

They excel at creative destruction , the term that economist Joseph Schumpeter popularized almost seventy years ago to describe the process of transformation that accompanies disruptive innovation. This kind of complex systemic innovation leverages lots of known ideas and makes them work together to help address important problems.

It''s interesting that he makes the point about ''systems'' twice. To use his own words, he sees at least some networks as systems. And systems are very different from networks. system''s structure and behavior may be decomposed via subsystems and sub-processes to elementary parts and process steps.
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I recently participated in MIT’s 2010 Systems Thinking Conference for Contemporary Challenges. This annual conference is sponsored by Systems Design and Management (SDM) - an interdisciplinary program between MIT’s School of Engineering and Sloan School of Management. Riding a bicycle is an obvious example.
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When I look back over my long, relatively eclectic career, complex systems have been a common theme in all the activities I’ve been involved in. It started in the 1960s, when I was an undergraduate and graduate student at the University of Chicago majoring in physics, - the study of complex natural systems. Let me explain. Amazing.
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What do we mean by applying design principles to complex, unpredictable, people oriented systems and problems? But the mechanisms to increase robustness will in turn make the system considerably more complex. But, socio-technical systems are oriented toward people and services. This is where we enter the world of design. .
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I’ve been wrestling with a thought lately – if organizations are complex systems, and complex systems are continuously self-organizing, then why do we believe formal processes make these complex systems more efficient? Instead, a process-heavy enterprise creates the need for larger social networks.
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